Three things to know: former-Sharks coach's seat isn't as hot as it looks

EDMONTON, Alberta — Todd McLellan’s seat in Edmonton isn’t quite as hot as it looks from 1,200 miles away in San Jose.

With that being said, the former-Sharks head coach is getting swept up in a tornado of drama this season. McLellan’s Edmonton Oilers (14-17-2), the favorite of many pundits to win the Western Conference, are underperforming, ranking 14th in the conference with 30 points heading into tonight’s showdown with the Sharks (17-10-4) at Rogers Place.

On top of that, McLellan got blasted by CBC’s Don Cherry for criticizing superstar Connor McDavid in the media and he took some heat for comments about Leon Draisaitl last month that got misinterpreted as an accusation that the 22-year-old forward is a selfish player.

(fast forward to the 3:30 mark of this video to see what Cherry said about McLellan’s comments about McDavid).

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Despite suggestions in the national media that McLellan could be on his way out of Edmonton if the Oilers are unable to turn things around, local reporters insist that his job is secure beyond the conclusion of the 2017-18 season.

The Oilers aren’t exactly in position to fire McLellan after shuffling through five coaches in a six-year span before they hired him in 2015.

More importantly, McLellan led the Oilers to the Pacific Division Final last season, ending an 11-year playoff drought in a town that calls itself the “City of Champions”. The Oilers struggles could just be the natural backslide that a lot of young teams experience after a breakthrough season.

The players in the Oilers dressing room certainly aren’t blaming their coach for the team’s sub-.500 record.

“He doesn’t play on the ice,” defenseman Darnell Nurse said. “We have the same systems that we had last year, and for the most part, the same personnel. It comes down to us and what we do on that ice.”

Nurse dismissed the suggestion that McLellan’s comments about McDavid and Drasaitl created friction in the Oilers dressing room.

“That’s just people trying to come up with a story. That’s what happens when you don’t start the way that everyone expects,” he said. “That’s for us to clean up on the ice. We’re very fortunate to have the type of staff that we have.”

2. ‘It’s just a matter of time’.

For the first time this season, the Oilers have strung together five quality games in a row, leading Sharks coach Pete DeBoer to believe that his team’s division rival is about to catch fire.

Goalie Cam Talbot came off the injured reserve Saturday after missing seven games. Top defenseman Adam Larsson will be rejoining the lineup Monday after being sidelined for the same number of games and 2016 first-round pick (No. 4) Jesse Puljujarvi is emerging as a legitimate scoring threat with six points in seven games.

“Their analytics show a team that’s playing very well, and when you watch the video, that’s supports that,” DeBoer said. “It’s just a matter of time. Hopefully, we can hold that off for a night.”

The Oilers will be looking to win back-to-back games for just the third time Monday. They rank 29th in home wins (5) and 30th on the penalty kill (73.1 percent).

Nevertheless, the Oilers can pull to within six points of the Sharks for third place in the Pacific Division with a regulation win Monday and they can improve to .500 by the Christmas break with three-consecutive home wins this week.

“We don’t want them gaining points on us and catching us,” Chris Tierney said, describing the urgency of Monday’s game. “We want to keep them down there and keep getting our (points). That’s our goal tonight.”

3. Finding desperation without Couture.

DeBoer called his team’s overtime loss in Vancouver Friday, “as sloppy a defensive effort as we’ve had maybe in my time here.”

The Canucks came out hungry after getting thumped by the Nashville Predators 7-1 in their previous game and the Sharks played with complacency after picking up a crucial division win in Calgary the night before.

Team Teal will be facing an equally desperate team Monday as the Oilers playoff hopes are quickly circling the drain.

But the Sharks won’t need to manufacture any extra urgency this time. Playing without Logan Couture, who’s sidelined by a concussion, should give the group all the desperation it needs.

Couture is the linchpin that has been holding the Sharks forward group together, so everyone will need to elevate their performance to absorb his loss.

“To be honest, we feel the same way (as the Oilers),” captain Joe Pavelski said. “The standings are tight. You lose one or two games, you’re right back down. You win a couple, you seem to stay even.